Chapter 36

This chapter changes from prophecy back to history.  Per MSB outline, we will be doing history from 36:1-39:8.  Sennacherib of Assyria attacks Judah, sacking the cities as he will, in the 14th year of Hezekiah.  Per MSB this was in 701 BC.  It also points out that the discovery of "The Annals of Sennacherib" show exactly what cities he conquered. 

MSB says 36:1-39:8 are almost verbatim the words in 2K18:13-20:19.  Says it is most likely that the author of 2K's incorporated Isaiah's writings into it, and not the other way around.  Much more could be studied on that.  Presumably this is MSB's argument to the exclusive authorship of the Book of Isaiah by Isaiah.  One more thing...chapters 36 and 37, per MSB, are the culmination of chapters 1-35.  They sort of conclude this major division of Isaiah.  Then the rest of the book previews the coming Babylonian captivity. So...

Starts with Sennacherib's Ramshakeh and his entourage going to Jerusalem and goes through the Ramshakeh addressing those on the wall, and them answering him not a word.  It does read almost exactly like the account in 2 Kings.  Not saying that God could not have revealed it word for word to two different writers, but that it sure looks like one copied the other.  MSB notes that 2Chron 32:32 says Isaiah was one of the chroniclers of Hezekiah's deeds, possibly referring to this very passage that is incorporated into 2Kings.

2021- [Isa 36:6 ESV] Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.  Apparently Sennacherib knew that some sort of alliance had been made between Judah and Egypt.  He is telling them it will not work.  This fits right in with the prophecies we've seen.  Isaiah had also said it wouldn't work.

Then this:  [Isa 36:7 ESV] But if you say to me, "We trust in the LORD our God," is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, "You shall worship before this altar"?  Sennacherib actually makes himself look dumb with this statement.  He does not realize at all that the high places were about false gods, and that tearing them down was not an insult to the God of Israel but a return to His commandments.  Here at least, Hezekiah had a leg to stand on in encouraging the people to resist this "not so brilliant after all" King.

And this: [Isa 36:10 ESV] Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, "Go up against this land and destroy it."'"  Partly true, but not completely.  God had sent Assyria against Ephraim, but has no intentions of letting him conquer Jerusalem.  It is at the gates of Jerusalem that God begins to destroy those who destroyed Samaria.  They cannot be held innocent for attacking God's people, even on God's orders.

Two pretty short chapters, after many days of long mornings.

2021 - Note that Israel fell to Assyria years before this, and now Sennacherib is approaching Jerusalem.  He has ransacked much of Judah, but has not captured the capital city.  This is his attack on Jerusalem.